Once in awhile-now and again-this is us

it was a beautiful day. and a gorgeous drive up the tioga pass.

we did pass through some the fire damaged trees. and it looks like they have the pine beetle here also.

we only had two campgrounds to pick from on Saturday night. most are closed and because of the spectacular weather the others were full. we got to the campground and the ranger said they had five spaces left. we got one of the last ones @ $7. a night.

we stayed here two nights. just hanging out. taking naps, playing dominos, watching everyone pack up and leave. by monday morning only 5 campsites were occupied out of 105.

poor people who have to work,  had to leave. ha ha.  we are very lucky, we have the whole week here. ha ha.

we drove to curry village yesterday. we’re starting to see some color now. most of yosemite is evergreen pine trees.

we got a glimpse of half dome as we got close to curry village.

curry village is near the base of half dome. we had to make our campsite reservations there. since it has been such spectacular weather, we were lucky to find one for the whole 6 days. we are in north pines campground, a short distance from here. they have wifi here so this is were i’ll do the blog.

maybe we’ll see a bear

almost a heart

we saw a deer as we ate breakfast this morning.

what’s next?

stay tuned

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the visitor center here is quite nice now. it’s been a long time since we’ve been in it. we watched a very interesting short film about the area. they have a lot of very detailed exibits also. we saw some very nice black and white photos, so i tried taking a couple.

it looks like snow

we didn’t want to drive over the tioga pass at night so we stayed in lee vining again. this time we asked at a gas station if there was anywhere to park other than the campground. sure, just go up a ways to the utility road and you can park there. it turned out to be a very nice spot, right on a creek.

the next morning we did the blog at a coffe house in lee vining and then headed up the pass.

stay tuned

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we started seeing the change in colors on the trees in bishop. I love the way the trees go up the mountains following the water.

we got to june lake and found a campground.

a lot of the trees have already lost there color

in the lower left corner you can see the color on the lake.

we drove around the june lake road the next day. it was a windy but beautiful day. there are four lakes in the loop. we stopped at gull lake to take some pictures.

grant lake is not as pretty. this is only one end of it, but you can see how the water level is drastically low.

you come back to 395 near mono lake. so that will be the next post.

stay tuned

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it wasn’t easy getting out to that field. we had to take dirt roads all the way. then it turns out the red field was not a red field. it was a bunch of red plastic fences put in such a way that from a distance it looked solid red. (didn’t it?) I looked it up online and someone is working on erosion. which is making his neighbors angry.

but on those dirt roads we found another interesting thing. acres and acres of very old cans and bottles.

back on 395 we made another stop in lone pine. home of mt. whitney and the Alabama hills.

we had never went very far back into the hills. this is where a lot of the old westerns were filmed. this was one of ted’s favorite places to take photos back in the good old days. I liked roaming around here and taking photos here too. the rocks are everywhere. too bad I couldn’t take any of these home.

we found cowboy canyon ted

look what we found

we stopped to say hi to some horses

the flies were so bad this one had his mask on

we got back on 395 headed to june lake.

stay tuned.

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don’t bother me, i’m napping

midas knew we were leaving him again and watched us carefully as we loaded the coach. we took our time and he got tired so he just went to sleep on the porch.

the drive to bakersfield is pretty boring, as most of you know. the view does get better when you turn on hwy 178 to the lake. we realized we had never been on this road.

it was a long tedious road for jerry to drive. he had to watch for the outcroppings along our side of the road

we made it to the lake and weren’t to impressed. this is where we camped and you can barely see the water. you used to be able to launch your boats here.

i saw this store as we were driving the next day and made (asked) jerry turn around to take a picture for sharon. it was out in the middle of nowhere in the city of onyx. I don’t know what the store was selling. it was closed.

the desert can be pretty if you look for pretty

it can be interesting if you look for interesting.

as we approached hwy 395 from hwy 178 we saw this enormus area of red off in the distance. the city was inyokern.

if you want to see what it was

stay turned

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we are leaving on our trip to Yosemite today. we’re getting ready to put in the cold food now, which is always the last step. (the beer went in when jerry turned on the refrigerator Monday).haha.

our first stop will be lake Isabella. we haven’t ever stayed there before. it should be nice this time of year. after one night we’ll head up  hwy 395 to lee vining where we will turn left on hwy 120 and go over the tioga pass into Yosemite. there is no snow yet.

we should see a lot of the fall colors along 395. it’s peak leaf peeping season.

as always we are looking forward to this trip. especially our anniversary at the ahwahnee hotel. this is a big splurge and we are going to enjoy every minute of it.

loading the coach I noticed one of the orange ‘brandy’ roses and I had to take a picture of it.

i’m seeing hearts already.

stay tuned for more

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we’ve had a change of travel plans. we decided to stay home for thanksgiving.  instead we are going to Yosemite for our 52nd anniversary, nov. 2nd  and jerrys birthday,  nov. 3rd.  we will leave in mid october and only be gone for 10 days this trip. we need to get there before it starts snowing when they close tioaga pass.

it sure took me a long time to get back in the swing of things when we got home. it was so hot, we didn’t even unload the coach right away. and now it’s time to load it back up.

I wanted to show you all where I hung the special collage that ted gave me.  so I would see it everyday,  I  put it with my others in the bathroom.  yes the bathroom.  now I see it several times a day. ( some days more than that).  I love it there. thanks again ted.

also,  i set my poker by the fireplace. I haven’t had the pleasure of using it yet though.

here’s the map of our last trip. we traveled 6,000 miles. I put a few markers so you can tell how far it was to Juneau.

it was one of our best trips. I loved sharing it will you.

p.s.

I started to have mixed feelings about doing the blog lately. with so much social media on facebook, instagram and such, I thought you all might be tired of facebragging as I’ve heard it called. I want you all to know,  I share my pictures with you because I  think  some of you will never get to these places, and they are just too beautiful. for you that have seen them I hope it brings back memories. for you that have not, maybe you’ll see  someplace you want to go to. I hope you all don’t see the blog as bragging. that’s not my intention at all.  i’m sharing my joy!

so if you want to see some of Yosemite

stay tuned

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we spent our last night in lee vining at a nice campground with a small view of mono lake. as we passed the lake I took a few pictures.

we had pastries from homage to have for breakfast.  did you have your scone for breakfast ted?  we had a two for two. and you probably had a one for one. in reno it was always two for three. it wasn’t the same without you.

we also had an apple from your tree

we had a very uneventful day of driving. we stopped at a vista point in the owens valley.

we’ve learned a lot about glaciers this trip. I guess they really did play an important role in shaping the earth.

I think I found the blue dick ray

we got mcdonalds in lone pine for lunch and  parked in some shade. this poor old horse was out in the hot sun all by himself.

mt. whitney in lone pine

this is what 2 1/2 months of mail looks like. plus we found more on the front porch that linda had taken care of.

this is how much is junk

it was sad and nice at the same time to come home. we sat on the porch in the evening and all the neighbors came over and we had a party on the porch. it was sure nice to see everyone and give them hugs. of course midas was there too.

so I guess this will be my last post for this trip. we have another trip planned for November. it will be our 52nd anniversary and we plan to go to texas to have thanksgiving with some old friends and see cousins. that is, after we go to las vegas to have another star tattoo added to our arm, and no telling what else.

but you never know what might come up before that,

so stay tuned

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after leaving ted we drove to renown medical center. my dr. has a daughter practicing there. I had used her a few times when she was in the long beach office, so I knew her.  I thought what a nice surprise to take a picture and put it in the blog for dr. wanyik.  but dr. ferrera was on call that day and not in her office. bummer. sorry dr. wanyik.  I took a few pictures of the center anyway because it was so pretty. this garden was in the middle of the center. wouldn’t this be nice to see on the way to your doctor.

is this a labyrinth dr. betty?

we also drove by the grand sierra resort, where we usually stay. they have a campground in one of the parking lots. this time we found a campground a few blocks from ted’s house. much more convenient.

labor day is the when the burning man thing goes on north of reno. ted told us we would start seeing the crowds come back from that. and that we did. the craziest vehicles, the most loaded down vehicles, and the weirdest people. and they hang out at the grand sierra to recoup. I took a few pictures but didn’t get some of the craziest ones.

all of them are loaded with bicycles. ted said that’s how they get around at the gathering.

you have to haul out all your trash with you, so it ends up in reno’s bins. they all looked like this. there was also a car wash detail in the lot. for $250.00 you could have your rv detailed. they also had a rental return for all the rented rv’s. we find some of the most unusual things on our trips. I didn’t even show you the sardine can car or the swingline stapler car!!!!!!!!

but we also see some of the most beautiful things in the usa. we stopped at mono lake to take pictures next.

stay tuned

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I wanted to see ted one last time, so what better way than to meet at homage. this place is the greatest. even though it’s on the street, it’s very quiet and you can hear each other talk. and it was nice.

it was a little easier to say good-bye this morning. I bought a few pastries, gave one to ted, and we went on our way. good-bye ted.

I have a picture to show all of you. it was 20 years ago. it was jerry’s 50th and tracy’s 30th birthday. we were here doing a trade show.

do you all remember?

and we’ll be home soon

stay tuned

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